Helicopter Parents: 25% of Parents are Overly Involved, Say College Students; Experience, Inc. Polls College Students about Parental Involvement

Experience, Inc., the leading provider of career services to students and alumni, today announced the findings from a recent online poll of more than 400 hovering over their children, or 'helic students and recent graduates regarding the growing trend of parentsopter parents.'

While the overwhelming majority of students describe their parents as moderately involved, 25% of them responded that their parents were "overly involved to the point that their involvement was either annoying or embarrassing." Conversely, 13% of the respondents said their parents were not involved at all.

"This is a time when students are setting out on their own," said Zi Teng Wang, a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis. "For example, my father threw me a Fortune magazine with the 'Top 500' companies and told me to just send a resume to every one on the list. He called it an internship search, which was very frustrating. Parents mean well, but anxiety from being separated from their children can drive them to grab onto the steering wheel and never let go."

Thirty-eight percent of students admitted that their parents had either called into, or physically attended meetings with academic advisors, and 31% of students reported that their parents had called professors to complain about a grade. But the ties run strong on both sides: 65% of young adults still seek counsel from their parents on their academic and career paths.

Survey Methodology

Experience's "Helicopter Parents" online poll was completed on January 11, 2006. Students who visited Experience.com were invited to participate in the poll, and over 400 of them voluntarily completed the survey.